Swine flu toll climbs by around 500: WHO

Fri, 11/20/2009 - 12:25 EDT - France24.com - Business

Around 6,750 people have died from the swine flu pandemic, World Health Organisation data showed Friday, about 500 more than a week ago.Data posted a week ago showed that 6,250 people have died from the A(H1N1) virus since it was first uncovered in April.The number of fatalities remains the highest in the Americas, where 4,806 deaths have been recorded.The Asia-Pacific region posted 1,323 deaths, while in Europe, at least 350 people have succumbed to pandemic flu.

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The global death toll from swine flu approached the 16,000 mark as the pandemic waned in much of Europe and Asia, the World Health Organisation said Friday."As of 14 February 2010, worldwide more than 212 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 15,921 deaths," the WHO said in its latest update.The toll recorded since the A(H1N1) pandemic virus was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States last April grew by 629 compared to the previous week.

The number of global swine flu deaths spiked by 700 in a week, the World Health Organisation said Friday, as Ukraine closed schools and cinemas in the toughest measures taken in Europe over the virus.More than 5,700 people have now died from the A(H1N1) since it broke out in April in Mexico and the United States in April, the WHO said.The biggest rise in the past week was recorded in the Americas, were 636 more people were reported killed by swine flu, bringing the region's death toll to 4,175, the UN agency said.

More than 6,250 people have died in the swine flu pandemic, World Health Organisation data showed Friday, as the global death rate appeared to slow.The number of deaths from the A(H1N1) pandemic in the week to November 8 grew by about 179, against 224 a week earlier and a leap of about 700 in the last week of October.The pandemic now stretches across 206 countries or territories worldwide, the WHO added in a statement.

More than 6,250 people have died in the swine flu pandemic, World Health Organisation data showed Friday, as the global death rate appeared to slow.The number of deaths from the A(H1N1) pandemic in the week to November 8 grew by about 179, against 224 a week earlier and a leap of about 700 in the last week of October.The pandemic now stretches across 206 countries or territories worldwide, the WHO added in a statement on its website.

The number of swine flu deaths worldwide passed the 10,000 mark about eight months after the pandemic strain was uncovered in April, reaching 10,582, World Health Organisation data showed Friday."As of 13 December 2009, worldwide more than 208 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 10,582 deaths," the WHO said.In data for December 6 released a week ago, the death toll stood at 9,596.

World Health Organisation director general Margaret Chan announced Tuesday the end of the swine flu pandemic, more than a year after it was declared."The world is no longer in phase six of the pandemic alert. We are now moving into the post-pandemic period," Chan said in a telephone news conference."The new H1N1 virus has largely run its course," she added.The top phase of the WHO's six tier pandemic alert scale corresponds to a pandemic, or global spread of a disease.

World Health Organisation chief Margaret Chan on Thursday decided to maintain a pandemic alert nearly a year after she placed the world on maximum readiness for the new swine flu virus.The WHO is continuing the alert following advice from a panel of scientists that although the outbreak has declined, fresh cases of A(H1N1) influenza are expected in coming weeks mainly during the southern hemisphere's flu season."Committee members stressed that it remains critical for countries to continue to maintain vigilance concerning the pandemic," the agency said in a statement.

The World Health Organisation said Thursday that the swine flu pandemic virus would threaten again next winter in the northern hemisphere and recommended its inclusion in the regular influenza vaccine.Protection for two other seasonal strains should be incorporated along with the A(H1N1) pandemic strain that swept across the world last year, the UN health agency said after the biannual meeting of flu vaccine experts.

Senior World Health Organisation official Keiji Fukuda said Thursday that it was too early to declare the swine flu pandemic over, as it continues at "high levels" in parts of Europe and central Asia.Although the A(H1N1) flu virus is peaking in parts of the northern hemisphere and is hardly present in the south, Fukuda said there was an unproven possibility that there could be another wave later in the winter."It really probably remains too early to call the pandemic over," Fukuda said in a weekly telephone news conference.

Senior World Health Organisation official Keiji Fukuda said Thursday that it was too early to declare the swine flu pandemic over, as it continues at "high levels" in parts of Europe and central Asia.Although the A(H1N1) flu virus is peaking in parts of the northern hemisphere and is hardly present in the south, Fukuda said there was an unproven possibility that there could be another wave later in the winter."It really probably remains too early to call the pandemic over," Fukuda said in a weekly telephone news conference.